Room 101

Bolivia’s Tiwanaku Citadel Surveyed

LA PAZ, BOLIVIA—The Latin America Herald Tribune reports that the archaeological complex at Tiwanaku spans some 1,675 acres, and is thus larger than had been previously thought. Archaeologist Jose Ignacio Gallegos led a team that employed topographic imagery, satellite technology, and drone flights to make plans for the conservation of the site. The survey also revealed a large underground plaza and two platforms that may be part of a pyramid. There may even be as many as 100 circular houses, a network of water channels, and another temple buried at the site. “It’s going to change the focus and many theories will be enriched or complemented, but mainly it will allow us to make a …reinterpretation of what [Tiwanaku] was,” said Julio Condori, director of the Centro de Investigaciones Arqueologicas Antropologicas y Administracion de Tiwanaku. Plans to excavate later this year are being made. To read about another discovery made using remote sensing, go to “Angkor Urban Sprawl.”